City of glass
by xnaley23
Summary: James and Joy are headed to London for the OTH convention. What events unfold as the weekend lays before them in this foreign land...
**City of glass**

 **AN:/** Hey guys, so this is a different kind of story. It's a story about James and Joy. Before anybody says anything, ITS JUST FOR **FUN** **!** So calm down, I respect them both individually. This story was just a cool idea, me and Jill had, her fanfic account is **NaleyWriter23**. This story is a collab :). No **NEGATIVE** comments, you will be **blocked** because as stated this story is **purely for fun** and **entertainment** purposes **only**. We both respect James and Joy a lot. This is all purely fictional, **NONE** of it is real. So take it easy and enjoy. Thank you.

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Joy sat there in departures, waiting for the boarding gates to open, for her flight to London. London was one of her most favourite places on this planet. She loved London for its newness and its oldness merged together to form the perfect combination of a buzzing city. It holds so many surprises, multi-culture and a wide variety of entertainment to amuse even the most monotonous of people. The tall glass buildings surrounded by old cathedrals and tiny Victorian houses next to towering council blocks. She sipped her coffee as she opened her scrapbook, to write down the beginning of this new adventure. London was going to be home to the Tree Hill convention for the first time in its history. Some popular cast members would be joining her, to meet and greet fans over this weekend.

" _Tree Hill takes London. What adventures lie before me? I'm excited to see London from a different perspective. As a tourist, and as a celebrity to meet these Londoners_.", she wrote. She always had an enact for scrapbooking, keeping a little diary of momentous occasions in her life. Very traditional, old school, just the way she liked it. Joy, looked outside the big glass windows as she saw aeroplanes coming and going to new journeys and destinations. She put earphones in her ears and played some music as she wrote away in her scrapbook.

Soon she was lost in writing she didn't even hear the voice calling her name. A tall shadow cast her overhead, as a fresh scent of a familiar Calvin Klein men's cologne made its way to her nose. Joy looked up. God, it wasn't. What a pleasant surprise.

"Joy!" cried the man

"James! Oh My God!" she smiled as she put her scrapbook down and took out her earphones, embracing him in a tight hug.

"I guess you're also going to London on this flight too huh?" he asked as he sat down on the seat next to her.

"Yeah, I'm so excited. God. I LOVE London" she beamed

"Ha-ha, I know you do." he smiled

"I can't wait to meet all the fans, it's really gonna be an amazing weekend. Like, I've been to London as a tourist, but to do it in this way. The experience will be super different, and I'm really happy to see what this weekend will bring" she continued.

"Ah, man! Me too. And I'm really glad that I get to see you again you know. I love how these cons bring us together"

"Yeah me too."

"You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"Nathan and Haley were supposed to go to London for their honeymoon"

"What are you implying James?" she sarcastically joked

"Nothing. But I heard it rains a lot there too" he continued as he had a big smirk on his face

Was he seriously just messing around with a friend, or was he seriously flirting with her? All these mixed signals racked her brain as she didn't know how to respond besides laughing and carrying it on in a jokey manner.

"Oh, we've had a lot of interesting moments in the rain" she smiled

"Yes. Interesting" he smirked

"God. I Miss it".

Crap. What had she just done? Did she seriously just imply she missed kissing him in the rain? Was she leading him on, or was he leading her on? Either way, she had to get out of this mess.

"You know. Being on the show" she quickly added.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't think I realised just how lucky I was to be a part of it. Now it's like going from job to job. Not really forming relationships or friendships with anyone. Just mere acquaintances. It sucks"

"Dude! Me too. Like we didn't even realise just how good we had it. Every day is a struggle trying to find something that will stick…"

As she was blabbering away she noticed James staring constantly at his phone. Not really paying attention to what she was saying. She stopped. Soon he noticed her silence.

"Oh. I'm so sorry! I was waiting for a text" he said anxiously

"Oh, it's okay", she said looking disappointed.

"Alex is in London right now. She's there to film The Royals, so I'm gonna meet her there. I haven't seen her in forever. We've both been so damn busy, I just finished filming a movie in Utah. And she was doing all sorts. So when I found out about this OTH con in London, I was like hell yeah" he explained

Joy seemed phased. She really wasn't interested in what he had to say anymore. The conversation seemed to be having a beautiful flow as if they were really connecting. Just reminiscing about old times, and remembering how good they had it. But then the walk _together_ down memory lane stopped, and suddenly he changed directions and she was just walking by herself. Alex. He brought up Alex, his girlfriend. Whatever, what did it matter to her anyway? If he was happy, heck, so should she. He deserved to be happy.

"That's awesome! But Agh, I'm a little offended", she joked

"Offended? Why?", he grew concerned

"You're NOT coming to London to spend time with me?", she laughed

"Of course, duh. The whole reason I confirmed this event was to only be with you." He played along.

"What have you guy's got planned?" she asked, as though she cared

"Oh well, there's a park called St. James park which is really beautiful, and I wanted to have a picnic there, by the lake. Then a horseback and carriage ride through the city at night, since London at night is just magical you know. Have to have dinner at The Shard! Europe's tallest building, and probably getting lost on the London Underground" he laughed.

"Sound's fun", she said as she tried to care and seem interested.

James was back at it again, staring intently at his phone as If he was going to sit an exam on it or something. Anxiously waiting for her to text back, hardly paying attention to Joy. He seemed distant, but she didn't want that to bother her. She was here to have a good time, and that's exactly what she was going to do. She picked up her scrapbook and put her earphones back in, and began doodling away.

"Sorry, Joy. That was rude. We were clearly having a conversation and me just totally blew you off like that", said James apologetically hoping she would take out her earphones.

Music was blasting loudly throughout her ears for her to even hear past what James was saying. He gently tapped her on the shoulder and repeated himself as she slowly took out her earphones.

"Oh, it's okay. You, kids, are in love. I get it", she said as she gave a half convincing smile

"What were you listening to anyway?"

"Colors by Halsey"

"Oh yeah? How does that one go?" he said in hopes to hear her sing a line to two.

" _You were a vision in the morning when the light came through, I know I've only felt religion when I've lied to you, And I'm still waking every morning but it's not with you. His hair, his smokes, his dreams. And now he's so devoid of color. He doesn't know what it means._

 _You were red and you liked me because I was blue. You touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky…And you decided purple just wasn't for you_ ", she sang as their eyes locked.

He looked deep into her eyes, feeling almost as if each lyric was meant for him. There was silence. The stillness encapsulated them as the world around them came to a halt. He felt as though he was almost back shooting a Naley scene again. As though some force was pushing them to be together but this was just a beautiful mess…all too destined to not come true. The motions of his eyes closing and an opening was captivating enough, his stare met hers and for that infinite moment they were one, the space between them was meaningless as the void quickly drew to a close with an almost kiss. She let her sweaty palm rest on the knees of his jeans, surrendering herself to him she took in his strong scent.

His phone vibrated and just like that the moment disappeared like a cheap magician's trick. He moved back and gulped, his heart was racing as he had realised what was close to happening. He bit his lip as he grabbed his phone. Joy watched on, observing his nervousness. How could she even let that happen? He had a girlfriend, she wasn't the kind of girl to break a relationship. She wasn't going to be that girl. It was a moment of weakness. She tried to convince herself, it was all in the heat of the moment. Nothing even happened. She sighed and grabbed her scrapbook yet again. Quickly jotting down something.

" _You are the only man, who never hurt me, but broke my heart. I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that very few times in your life if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together_.

 _Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up_.

 _You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect—you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break—her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyse and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there_ " she wrote.

"What you writing there?" he questioned as he tried peering at her words…

"Nothing", she said as she hurriedly shut her scrapbook.

She smiled and excused herself to the restroom, leaving her scrapbook on the chair. James felt as though he had to look at it. What was she hiding and why? He was about to open it when he stopped. What was he doing? She was his friend, and this was wrong. It's an invasion of privacy. He shifted his thoughts as he tried not to think about the scrapbook. He sat back and carried on texting on his phone. The service was just appalling where he was sitting, he decided to get up and find a better place to momentarily make a phone call. As he was getting up he accidentally knocked Joy's coffee cup all over her scrapbook.

"God Dammit!" he yelled as he tried to clean up the mess.

Coffee had seeped through the pages of the book making it wet and messy. He grabbed tissues from his pockets in desperate attempts to wipe it up. No use. He got up, and as he did he knocked the scrapbook on the floor, it fell face down.

"Fuck! What is wrong with me today", he said to himself in annoyance

He picked up the scrapbook and saw the writing on the page. Some of it had smudged due to the coffee. But from what he could make out it read…

" _And the two of you may never be perfect together. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break—her heart. Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up_." He read.

"James? Is that my scrapbook?", Joy asked as she walked towards him

"Were you going through my scrapbook?" she asked

He quickly shut the page, looking guilty…he shook his head.

"No, of course not. It just fell, I was picking it up. I accidentally spilt coffee on it."

"Oh", she said unconvinced.


End file.
